Art San Diego founder and director Ann Berchtold says she was approached by Redwood Media Group show director Eric Smith at last year's fair.---

"I really like their organization," Berchtold says. "[Smith] brings to Art San Diego a lot of resources that I just didn't have. They're already close to being sold out this year-they're at about 60 percent of the fair, which is amazing for this time of the year. Their outreach is amazing. They're bringing galleries from Latin America, from China, from all over the world."

Berchtold will stay on as the art fair's director and says she'll continue to make Art San Diego's ties to the local arts community an important aspect of the fair. Programs like the local spotlight artists, launch pads and art labs will continue.

"I'm really excited about the shift," Berchtold says.

This year's Art San Diego is scheduled for Nov. 6 through 9 in the Balboa Park Activity Center.

An earlier version of this blog post incorrectly indicated that Art San Diego was established in 2011. We regret the error.